Application: Sustainable Development

Sustainable frameworks and models contain guidelines and policies that support sustainable community development. Like lighthouses, these frameworks and models provide strategic direction by clarifying, or shining light on, a community or organization’s goals. Sustainability frameworks and models often follow the systems thinking idea, which examines how society, the environment, and the economy are interconnected. As you read about sustainability this week in the context of systems thinking, it is important to keep in mind that family, community, civilization, the economy, and the environment no longer can be viewed as separate entities.

The assignment (1–2 pages):

Explain the concept of sustainability in terms of systems thinking.

Describe one sustainability framework or model you would use as a guide to sustainable development in your community and explain why. Be specific.

Support your Application with specific references to all resources used in its preparation.

Readings

• Mo Ibrahim Foundation. (2013, November). Africa ahead: The next 50 years. Retrieved from http://www.moibrahimfoundation.org/downloads/2013-facts-and-figures.pdf
• Five E’s Unlimited. A System’s Approach to Sustainable Development. (2010). Community sustainability assessment (CSA). Retrieved from http://www.eeeee.net/sample%20of%20CSA%20scorecard.pdf
• Lachman, B. E. (1997). The sustainable community “movement.” In Linking sustainable community activities to pollution prevention (pp. 8–12). Washington, DC: RAND. Retrieved from http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR855/mr855.ch2.html
• The Natural Step. (n.d.). The four system conditions of a sustainable society. Retrieved June 21, 2014, from http://www.thenaturalstep.org/the-system-conditions
• Work Group for Community Health and Development, University of Kansas. (2010). The Community Tool Box: Chapter 2 – Some other models for promoting community health and development. Retrieved from http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/overview/models-for-community-health-and-development
  • Section 1
  • Section 2
  • Section 3
  • Section 4
  • Section 7
  • Section 8
  • Section 9
  • Section 10
  • Section 11
  • Section 13
• Work Group for Community Health and Development, University of Kansas. (2009). The Community Tool Box: Our model of practice: Building capacity for community and system change. Retrieved from http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/overview/model-for-community-change-and-improvement/building-capacity/main

Media

• Laureate Education. (Producer). (2010). Foundations of sustainable community development. Baltimore, MD: Author.

  Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 12 minutes.
  Accessible player –Downloads–Download Video w/CCDownload AudioDownload Transcript

Optional Resources

• Boyd, S. F. (2001). Sustainable communities and the future of community movements. National Civic Review, 90(4), 385–390.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• McKeown, R. (2002). ESD Toolkit: Seeing your community through a sustainability lens. Retrieved from http://www.esdtoolkit.org/community_goals/sust_lens.htm
• Rizzi, R. (n.d.). ESD Toolkit: Tools to introduce the concept of sustainable development. Retrieved June 19, 2014, from http://www.esdtoolkit.org/concept_intro/default.htm